It has been one full year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. As most of you will know, while the health impact so far has been bad enough, the social and economic fallout of the pandemic also had a negative impact on gender equality. To be honest, it does not surprise me that COVID-19 has disproportionately ...

‘We all leap forward when one woman tries, When she defies with her valiant cries, Here lies but does not rest, The best of test women, who call us all to rise’ — Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman March 8 each year (even in 2021!) is celebrated as International Women’s Day. The theme for 2021 is apt and relevant, “Women in Leadership...

Of all the fault lines Covid-19 has exposed in global health, the need to address obesity has emerged as an unexpected but urgently important one. A new report from the World Obesity Federation shows that a shocking 2.2 million of the 2.5 million (or 90%) of global deaths were in countries with high levels of obesity.  It is estimated that aroun...

In the run-up to International Women’s Day 2021, and in light of recent gains made in the global menstrual justice policy space, we present the Pandemic Periods Collective – who are on a mission to elevate the voices of those experiencing period poverty during COVID-19.   As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments are ...

There has been much hype recently around the potential of digital technologies to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, save lives and help societies return to normality. At the same time, critics voice concerns about how the digital response to the pandemic may extend state surveillance and exacerbate inequalities through the exclusion of vulnerable grou...

“After the survey in the area, we felt that we could not leave this settlement unattended. In Kallodi there was a vacancy for an Anganwadi teacher. I was asked to go to that place. But my mind was reluctant to leave this place. The then Panchayath President  and the Ward member  were not ready to let me go to this place. It was such a problemati...

All over the world, COVID-19 has redefined how we live our lives in the past year. Sadly, and more importantly, the pandemic has also claimed a lot of lives so far – with no end in sight yet. Although relatively “spared” compared to some other parts of the world, by February 2 Africa had registered 3,582,022, COVID-19 cases and 91,517 deaths...

Mental healthcare is fundamentally moral. It is, as Didier Fassin reminds us, “the government of the precarious”. In 2017, Reverend Joseph Maboe set out to find his son Billy, who was kept in a dilapidated institution for people living with severe mental and neurological conditions (PSMN) – serious forms of mental incapacitation – in Sou...

HPSR capacity building, an integral part of health system strengthening in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), was already gaining traction in recent times and the COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted its importance in developing effective and resilient health systems. Last year in March, a few of us made a call to action for strength...